January 10, 2020
Issue 1, Volume 13
It's All About the Choices!     
          
Greetings and Happy New Year!!

Please enjoy our weekly newsletter!
 
News Items:
  • Researchers Suggest Pathway to Reverse the Genetic Defect of Friedreich's Ataxia
  • Plasticizers May Contribute to Motor Control Problems in Girls
  • Texas Students Are Still Fighting For Special Education
  • Clothing Size Guide In Works For Those With Down Syndrome
  • Youth With Psychotic Disorders Show Brain Structure Differences
  • Saliva Test For Autism Hits Market
PediaStaff News and Hot Jobs 
  • Hot, New Job! School Based BCBA - Chicago, IL
  • Hot, New Job! Pediatric OT - Culpepper, VA
  • Hot, New Job! School Based SLP - Corvalis, OR
Therapy Activities, Tips and Resources
  • Very Simple Snowflake Craftivity
  • Weaving Hearts
  • Snowflake Gross Motor Learning
  • Simon Says - Body Awareness and Motor Planning Activity
Articles and Special Features 
  • School Nurse's Corner: Fifteen Tips for Helping ELLs Through Their First Winter
  • SLP Corner: 5 Tips to Maximize Your Vocabulary Instruction
  • OT Corner: How to Use a Timer to Help with Letter Formation
  • PT Corner: Easy Kids Yoga Poses With Rotation
  • Autism Corner: Brighter Futures for Children with Autism in Conflict-Affected Communities
Feel free to contact us with any questions about our openings or items in these pages. Have you discovered our RSS feed? Click on the orange button below to subscribe to all our openings and have them delivered to your Feed Reader!  Don't have an RSS Feed Reader set up? Sign up at Blogtrottr and have our blog posts delivered right to your email.

Have a great weekend and Take Care!

Heidi Kay and the PediaStaff Team
8

The Career Center

The links to the right are "live" and reflect the most recent SLP, OT, PT and related assistant jobs, and ALL our Bilingual and School Psychology Jobs. 
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Recent Occupational Therapist and COTA Jobs 

Researchers Suggest Pathway to Reverse the Genetic Defect of Friedreich's Ataxias
[Source:  Medical X-Press]

Scientists at Tufts University have identified a molecular mechanism that could reverse the genetic defect responsible for Friedreich's ataxia, a neurodegenerative disease that leaves its victims with difficulty walking, a loss of sensation in the arms and legs and impaired speech caused by degeneration of nerve tissue in the spinal cord. The researchers report today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the genetic

Plasticizers May Contribute to Motor Control Problems in Girls
[Source:  Science Daily]

Scientists have uncovered a link between prenatal exposure to phthalates - a ubiquitous group of plasticizers and odor-enhancing chemicals - and deficits in motor function in girls. Phthalates are widely used in consumer products from plastic toys to household building materials to shampoos and are thought to disrupt endocrine function, and possibly interfere with brain development in utero.

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Texas Students Are Still Fighting For Special Education
[Source: NPR]

In 2004, Texas put an arbitrary cap on how many children could receive special education. Last year, the policy was deemed illegal, but some parents still struggle to enroll their kids in special ed.
In 2004, the Texas Education Agency put a cap, an arbitrary one, on how many children with disabilities could receive special education. For more than a decade, tens of thousands of children were denied services while the state saved billions of dollars. Last year, the Department of Education declared the policy illegal. But in a new investigation with the Houston Chronicle, Laura Isensee with Houston Public Media finds that Texas students are still fighting for special ed.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Clothing Size Guide In Works For Those With Down Syndrome
[Source: The Herald News]

By Ellie Rushing / The Philadelphia Inquirer

When Jayden Niblett wakes up each morning, his mind races to remember what he is doing that day, and what he can wear to impress his friends.

The last often leads to annoyance. Jayden, 11, who has Down syndrome, struggles to find clothes that fit his unique body type and are accommodating of his motor deficits, an issue that people with physical disabilities face every day in a world where fashion is built on single-size body standards.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Youth With Psychotic Disorders Show Brain Structure Differences
[[Source:  Psych Central]
Young people with psychotic spectrum (PS) disorders exhibit significant differences in brain structure, compared to youth without these disorders, according to a new study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

PS disorders, which include schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, delusional disorder and schizotypal personality disorder, are characterized by abnormalities in beliefs, perceptions and behavior; but how these disorders manifest in the early stages is largely unknown.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Saliva Test For Autism Hits Market
[Source: Syracuse.com]

A saliva test designed to quickly diagnose autism in toddlers has hit the market after seven years of research at SUNY Upstate Medical University and Penn State.

The researchers hope the test will help doctors detect autism faster and get children help sooner, when it can be most effective.

The test was released in December by Quadrant Biosciences Inc., a company located on Upstate's Syracuse campus. The company partners with Upstate through the state's StartUp NY program which gives new and expanding businesses tax breaks and access to university researchers.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link our Blog
Are you a BCBA looking to work in a school setting for the remainder of the current school year?

*  You will provide therapy service districtwide
*  You will begin as soon as possible
*  You will work full time throughout the remainder of the current school year
* You will need to be able to administer the principles and practices of Applied Behavior Analysis including general behavioral assessments

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Looking for a slower pace in Virginia? We are seeking an Occupational Therapist for a rural pediatric clinic located in a town named "The Prettiest Town in Virginia". by Architectural Digest. Virginia is a land of rolling hills, rugged mountains, lush valleys, dense forests, and secluded beaches along picturesque bays. '

Bordered on the east by the Atlantic and the west by the Appalachian Mountains, with rolling farmland in the middle, the state offers countless places to visit for history buffs, nature lovers, and passionate foodies.


Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
We are seeking a speech-language pathologist for a four day a week (.8) assignment in Corvallis and Lebanon starting immediately until the end of school in June.

* Speech-language pathologist will work 2 days a week in Lebanon
* SLP will have a caseload of 32 students at 2 sites
* Thursday and Friday at High School and educational center transition program for 18-21-year-olds.  Both the transition program and the Life Skills classroom at the high school have high needs students.

Learn About / Apply for This Job on our Blog
Very Simple Snowflake Craftivity
[Source: Inspired Treehouse]

I love seeing the excitement on my kids' faces when they see the first snow of the season.  And, after a super mild November and December here in Ohio, we're finally starting to see some freezing temps and snowflakes here and there!  Hooray!

You know what that means?  Snowflake-themed EVERYTHING!  We have a few fun snowflake games, crafts, and activities that are guaranteed to challenge and entertain your little ones this winter! To start...washi tape snowflakes!

Read the Rest of This Article Through a Link on our Blog
Weaving Hearts
[Source:  Teaching Mama]

It's important for children to have a lot of time to work on fine motor skills. Fine motor skills are the actions that are performed in the small muscles in the hands, fingers and wrists. Your child practices using fine motor skills when holding a pencil, using a pair of scissors or lacing their shoes. Today's fine motor skill is weaving hearts.

Read More About this Craftivity Through a Link on our Blog
Snowflake Gross Motor Learning
[Source: Playing with Words 365]

So this past week, I saw two similar activities that I really LOVED. The first one, is from  Roots of Simplicity. She created a great gross motor reading activity by writing words on snowflakes and taping them to the ground (check out her post for details). Then, Emma at  Mummy Mummy Mum linked up a very similar activity using dinosaur foot prints that I just had to feature this week at Thrifty Thursday.

Simon Says - Body Awareness and Motor Planning Activity
 
[Content and Image Source:  Your Therapy Source]

Here is a fun, new freebie from the latest download, Simon Says.   Print off these 9 cards to play a quick game of Simon Says.  Can the children copy the body poses exactly?  These are  9 samples cards from the HUGE collection of body position cards from the complete Simon Says download.

School Nurse's Corner: Fifteen Tips for Helping ELLs Through Their First Winter
[Source:  Colorin Colorado.com]

Winter can be filled with excitement as students from warmer climates experience their first snowfall. However, it can also present challenges and hardships for ELL families new to winter weather. This article offer ideas on how to address both the fun and challenging aspects of winter with lots of examples from schools around the country - and Canada! 

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
SLP Corner: 5 Tips to Maximize Your Vocabulary Instruction
[Source:  The ASHA Leader Blog]

As a speech-language pathologist working to close the achievement gap in a charter school system, I'm always looking for the latest evidence-based practice recommendations for vocabulary instruction. Vocabulary skills contribute to word reading, writing, listening and reading comprehension skills, so I make vocabulary a priority in my day-to-day work with students. I recently read the November issue of ASHA's SIG 1 Perspectives on Language Learning and Education, and found some wonderful ideas for maximizing vocabulary

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
OT Corner: How to Use a Timer to Help with Letter Formation
[Source:  Sugar Aunts]

This super easy handwriting trick is one that can be done right now.  Pick up your phone, turn on the timer app and start practicing handwriting.  Using a timer to help with letter formation is one way that kids can develop consistency with correct letter formation, speed, and accuracy (with a goal of handwriting legibility!) when completing writing tasks independently.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
PT Corner: Easy Kids Yoga Poses With Rotation
[Source: Pink Oatmeal]

Yoga can be a lot of fun and can offer a lot of great movement opportunities.  One of those opportunities is working on rotation while in a yoga pose.  There are some pretty simple yoga poses out there that you can do that help incorporate rotation while doing yoga.  These are five fun rotation poses to use with kids yoga.  These yoga poses are simple, yet effective. Remember, while doing yoga have fun, keep poses within your comfort

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog
Autism Corner:  Brighter Futures for Kids w/ Autism in Conflict-Affected Communities
[Source:  A Global Voice for Autism]

by:  Melissa Diamond

Photo:  Haya practices food flashcards with her mother in A Global Voice for Autism's Mersin program. Haya loves working on flashcards and often carries them around and hands them to whoever she sees.

At some point, most special needs families in the United States have felt stressed by the cost, distance or quality of support services in their communities. Now, imagine living in a community that has no autism services. This was the case for Haya's family until they learned about A Global Voice for Autism in May 2016.

Read the Rest of this Article Through a Link on our Blog

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